320 DIADELPHIA— DECANDRIA. Medlcao-o. 



o 



in the centre, especially the earlier ones, with an irregular 

 blackish spot ; the middle one on a rather longer partial stalk 

 than the rest. Stipulas half-ovate, with several deep pointed 

 teeth. Fl. yellow, rather small, 2 or 3 together, in. cultivated 

 specimens 4 or 5, on each axillary stalk, shorter than the leaves. 

 Legumes orbicular, depressed, smaller than a pea, with several 

 spiral turns, marked with concentric ribs, the margin fringed 

 with two rows of long, spreading, slender, weak, partly hooked, 

 bristles, the whole, when ripe, brown, not black. Seeds several, 

 kidney-shaped. 



This has* been mentioned, but not much recommended, as a fodder 

 for cattle. 



I have specimens gathered by the Rev. Mr. Bryant at Cley, Nor- 

 folk, which may possibly be the variety /3. They agree exactly 

 with the figure of Lobel above cited, but Dillenius in his blind 

 account of this plant, taken from Plukenet, does not advert to 

 that figure. The spines of the legumes are shorter and more 

 rigid tTian in our common M. maculata, and the leaflets are with- 

 out spots, I had suspected this might be M. deiiticulata, Willd. 

 V. 3. 1414, Rees's CijcL n. 26, but the legumes have sometimes 

 3 or 4 convolutions, and the leaflets are not obovate. It seems 

 a variety of the maculata, and may or may not be the plant of 

 Plukenet or Dillenius. 



5. M. muricata. Flat-toothed Medick. 



Stalks barely three-flowered. Stipulas deeply toothed, 

 hairy as well as the obovate, somewhat rhomboid, leaf- 

 lets. Legumes even, with short, depressed, radiating 

 teeth, in a single row. 



M. muricata. Wilkl Sp. PL v. 3. 1414. Sm. in Rees's Cijcl. n. 27. 

 Comp.ed.4.\25. M'ith.6G\. Hull2\9. 



M. polymorpha muricata. Linn. Sp. PI. 1098 ^. Fl. Br. 798 y. 



M. minor, orbiculato compresso fructu, circum oras spinis mollius- 

 culis echinato. Pluk. Almag. 243. 



Trifolium cochleatum, modiolis spinosis. Raii Sijn. 333. Pluk. 

 Phyt.t. 113./. 6. 



On the sea coast. 



At Orford, Suffolk, on the sea bank plentifully. Ray. 



Annual. June, July. 



Stems procumbent. Leriflets inversely heart-shaped, or somewhat 

 rhomboid, clothed with silky hairs. Fl. often solitary. I have 

 seen no native specimens, and have doubts concerning this spe ■ 

 cies, which I hope future inquiry may remove. The legumes of 

 foreign specimens are more cylindrical, and less depressed, with 

 shorter teeth, or spines, than in Plukenet's figure. 



